Greens’ royalty hike puts Jackie Trad and LNP on common ground

Jackie Trad has given a spirited defence of the mining industry to rubbish a Greens policy proposing a tripling of royalties.

Jackie Trad and Amy MacMahon during the Sky News/Courier-Mail South Brisbane debate. Picture: Peter Wallis.

Jackie Trad has given a spirited defence of the mining industry to rubbish a Greens policy proposing a tripling of coal and gas royalties.

Taking part in a Sky News/Courier-Mail ­debate against her rivals for the seat of South Brisbane — the Greens’ Amy MacMahon and the Liberal National Party’s Clem Grehan — the former deputy premier and treasurer, who has previously told coalminers to re-skill, said the industry was the backbone of the state economy.

Ms MacMahon, who accused the LNP and Labor of pandering to mining companies, said raising coal and gas royalties to 35 per cent, and base and precious metals royalties to 20 per cent, which she dubbed “very fair”, would raise $55bn over four years to fund services. Coal royalties currently range from 7 per cent to 15 per cent, ­depending on quantity, while petroleum royalties are at 12 .5 per cent, and base and precious metal royalties are at 2.5 to 5 per cent.

Ms Trad said the Greens had a “split personality” when it came to mining. “Here they are putting forward free everything in Queensland — free transport, free hospitals, free lunches and breakfasts at schools, and ‘we’re going to pay for it from mining taxes, but we want to close down those mines’,” Ms Trad said. “It’s honestly just really simplistic university politics here.”

Mr Grehan said mines would “shut down” if royalties went up by the proposed amount. “You’ll kill the cow and you think you’ll get the milk out of it,” he said.

Ms Trad also said her call for miners to re-skill was “taken out of context” and she was “very proud” of Labor’s support of the resources industry. Ms Trad, who last week said she would not seek to return to cabinet should Labor be re-elected, said she supported the tradition of unions being able to have a say on who should be given a cabinet role. “Look, the rules of the Labor Party caucus are decades old and they’re the rules that we have,” she said.

It came after Annastacia Palaszczuk last week ruled out a ­return to cabinet for Ms Trad, prompting United Workers Union state secretary and Left faction powerbroker Gary Bullock to warn the makeup of the frontbench was beyond the Premier’s control and was determined by “democratic processes”.

Ms Trad holds the seat on a margin of 3.55 per cent, having ­defeated Ms MacMahon in 2017 on LNP preferences.

Mr Grehan defended his party’s decision to put Ms Trad below the Greens on how-to-vote cards. “(Ms Trad) brought in acts that have damaged agriculture, damaged mining, so they all want to see her go,” he said. “That’s why she’s last, because she’s a greener Green than the Greens.”

Mr Grehan and Ms Trad called out the Greens’ push to increase social housing by 100,000 homes and increase parkland, while simultaneously preventing density ­increases in Brisbane’s suburbs.

“They won’t come clean, Clem, they protest against development but when they advocate for development they won’t say where it’s going to go,” Ms Trad said.

She also criticised Ms MacMahon for failing do condemn a Greens volunteer for a “sexist” and “offensive” social media post.

“This is a concerted campaign and quite frankly it’s disgraceful,” Ms Trad said. “Amy should just be a leader, she should apologise for this.”

Mr Grehan said all political representatives needed to behave with “decorum”.